RTGS transactions rise by 65.13 percent in first month

Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions increased significantly in the first month of the current fiscal year 2024/25 (mid-July to mid-August), a recent study report of the Nepal Rastra Bank  (RRB) shows.

A total of 74,380 individuals conducted RTGS transactions worth Rs 1080.3bn during the review month. This is an increase of 65.13 percent compared to total RTGS transactions of Rs 654.11bn in the previous month (mid-June to mid-July). The number of transactions between mid-July to mid-August (2.86m), however, was lower compared to mid-June to mid-July when 2.98m RTGs transactions were conducted, Monthly Payment Systems Indicators Report of the central bank shows.

RTGS refers to a funds transfer system in which the transfer of funds between one bank and another takes place in ‘real time’ and on a ‘gross’—transaction by transaction—basis.

During the first month of 2024/25, people withdrew Rs 87.87bn from ATMs, a slight decrease compared to Rs 91.26bn withdrawn by 11.21m people in the previous month of mid-June to mid-July. 

Transactions through ConnectIPS saw a decline in both the number of users and transaction volumes during mid-July to mid-August. According to the report, 6.84m users processed total transactions worth Rs 525.33bn through connectIPS during the review month, down from Rs 666.58bn processed by 7.79m in the previous month. 

According to the report, transactions through internet banking saw an increase to Rs 22.49bn in the first month of the previous fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August), compared to Rs 17.73bn in mid-June to mid-July. The number of people doing internet banking transactions also increased to 409,065 from 351,301 transactions during the period. Mobile banking transactions also increased to Rs 377.63bn in the review month compared to Rs 373.97bn in the previous month.

Transaction through digital wallets increased by 14.55 percent to Rs 43.69bn during mid-July to mid-August compared to Rs 38.14bn. The number of transactions, however, fell to 30.87m, down from 32.1m in the previous month. 

QR-based payments increased to Rs 62.28bn during mid-July to mid-August compared to Rs 61.73bn in the previous month. Such transactions during the review month, however, recorded more than 100 percent growth compared to the last first month mid-July to mid-August of last year when QR-payments worth Rs 29.99bn were recorded.